


Avatar: the Banished Prince

by Qiralyn_Cassette



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avatar Zuko (Avatar), Iroh adopts Zuko, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Work Up For Adoption, eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:41:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27240619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qiralyn_Cassette/pseuds/Qiralyn_Cassette
Summary: Zuko is the Avatar and that's where all the craziness begins.
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Kudos: 22





	Avatar: the Banished Prince

**Author's Note:**

> Air. Water. Earth. Fire.
> 
> Long ago the four nations lived in peace and harmony then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
> 
> Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them but when the world needed him most, he vanished.
> 
> A hundred years have passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, a firebender named Zuko.
> 
> And although he supports the fire nation, with the right guidance and people that love and support him
> 
> I believe Zuko can save the world
> 
> **Avatar: The Banished Prince**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Book 1: Air  
> **  
>  Chapter 2: The Avatar Returns

“You’re the Avatar!?” Zuko asks, surprised as he spots Aang riding in on a penguin.

Aang looks at him, confused, “What are you talking about? I’m just an Airbender.” he says, but Zuko just accuses him of lying. 

“No, you’re lying. You have to be him!”

Aang shakes his head “Nope, I don’t know who the Avatar currently is right now, it used to be one of my friends, but that was a hundred years ago.” he explains.

“Yeah, the Avatar hasn’t been seen for 100 years; some believe the Avatar was never reincarnated,” Katara speaks up in defense of Aang.

“Likely story” Zuko scoffs and points to Aang. “I know you’re the Avatar! The last Avatar was an Airbender, and you’re an Airbender. Who else could it be?”

“I honestly don’t know who the Avatar is right now… My friend was the Avatar! He did something… We were caught in a storm, and he did something that saved me… I don’t know what happened next. If the Avatar hasn’t been seen in a hundred years, he probably doesn’t exist anymore...” Aang explains

__________________________________________________________________

Zuko, in denial, yells, “No! You’re lying! Father sent me on this mission because he knew I could do it!”

Sokka questions him, “Mission?”

Zuko just shouts at them. “I don’t have to explain myself to you, you peasants!”

Katara looks at Zuko sympathetically and whispers, “What father sends their kid out to do the impossible…”

Zuko hears what she says and keeps refusing to believe what they are saying. “It’s possible! It has to be! It’s my only way home!”

Katara, confused, also starts asking questions. “What do you mean your only way home? Can’t you just go home any time you feel like it?”

Zuko continues to yell, “I’ve been banished! You, idiots! The only way for me to come back home is to regain my honor and capture the Avatar.”

“Doesn’t sound like your father wants you home if he banished you…” Sokka says bluntly.

Zuko defends his father, “He does! He had to banish me. I disrespected him by speaking out of turn! He loves me, but I dishonored myself, and so he had to scar and banish me to teach me a lesson!”

“That’s fucked up…” Sokka whispers

“I can’t believe I’m feeling sympathy towards a fire nation prince that is raiding my home...” Katara says gently.

“Zuko… I don’t know how to say this, but I don’t think your father loves you…” Aang says, trying to say it as gently as possible. 

“You are just a monk! How would you know about fathers when you didn’t have one yourself!” yells Zuko.

__________________________________________________________________

Unbeknownst to Zuko, Sokka, Katara, and Aang, Iroh walks out and starts listening in on their argument.

“Don’t yell at him! He’s just trying to help you! And you know what? He’s right! Father’s shouldn’t do that to their children, at least good fathers shouldn’t.” Katara says comforting Aang

Sokka backs them up. “Yeah, like our dad left us so he could fight in the war to make it a better and safer place for us.”

Zuko puts his hands over his ears as if he wants to block out what they are saying, telling them, “No, you’re wrong! My father loves me! I just make it hard for him, because I’m a failure!”

Aang tries reasoning with him, “Zuko… You shouldn’t feel like you have to earn love... It should already be given to you.” while Sokka is just blunt, “Your dad seems like an awful person to scar you and banish you at what are you? Sixteen”

“You don’t understand! None of you do! My father loves me. If I return with the Avatar, he’ll have to love me!” Zuko says, but it sounds more like he’s trying to convince himself that.

“Zuko, that’s not love... That’s not how love works…” Aang says

Zuko, realizing that his uncle is right behind him, turns and asks desperately, “He does love me! Right, Uncle?” His uncle stays silent, “...” “Right, Uncle!?” Zuko asks again, even more desperate.

“Zuko, the Avatar hasn’t been seen in over a hundred years by now… I don’t think he ever planned for you to return.” Iroh admits.

“No, you are wrong! All of you are wrong!” Zuko yells even though he knows deep down inside it’s true.

“Think about it though, why would your father send you after a being that hasn’t been seen in a hundred years? Your father sent you on a wild hunt to keep you out of his way.” Aang once again tries to make him see reason, but it seems Zuko still won’t hear it.

“You’re wrong! You have to be wrong!”

__________________________________________________________________

Zuko clutching his head with eyes closed shakes it. “No, no, no!” he stutters out and goes completely still as the wind starts blowing.

“Did it all of a sudden get windy?” Sokka asks Katara, and Katara shrugs, asking Aang, “Do you have something to do with the wind?” Aang shakes his head, looking confused.

Aang turns his attention back to Zuko and continues talking to him. “I think that deep down, you know what we are saying is true… You just want it so badly not to be true that you are deceiving yourself…” The winds seem to grow stronger, and the waves start getting bigger and bigger.

“Everyone find shelter! A storm’s coming!” Sokka yells, but Katara is doubtful, “Are you sure it’s a storm? Look, there’s not a cloud in the sky!” “Well, what else can it be?” Sokka rebuttals.

“Zuko? Zuko!” Aang yells to Zuko, noticing he hasn’t moved yet to take shelter.

Iroh comes up beside Zuko and gently shakes his shoulders. “Zuko? We should leave now… Zuko?” Iroh continues shaking Zuko to get his attention. “ZUKO!” Iroh yells, but Zuko doesn’t seem to be listening. He doesn’t even seem to notice the strong winds all around them. 

Katara and Sokka choose to watch what’s going on after ushering everyone else into the igloo.

__________________________________________________________________

Zuko finally opens his eyes, and everyone looking at him does a small gasp. Instead of a pair of golden eyes, all they see a couple of white glowing eyes.

Zuko seemingly lifts himself with a snow vortex, and it becomes clear to everyone watching that the sudden strong winds and big waves were coming from him. 

“What’s happening!?” Katara yells out while Sokka asks, “Why are his eyes glowing!?”

“Zuko...Zuko’s the Avatar…” Aang whispers, but no one can hear him over the strong wind. Aang looks at Iroh and, with the help of his airbending calls out to Iroh

“Zuko’s uncle! We need to calm him down before he destroys the place! Come over here so Zuko can see you and hear you! I can make it so your voice reaches him with my airbending!”

Iroh quickly walks over to Aang and starts talking to Zuko, “Zuko… I know this is not what you wanted to hear, and I know you’ve tried so hard to get your father’s approval, but the truth is my brother is a very cruel man… Even if your father accepted you, it wouldn’t be as satisfying as you think it would. He may accept you, but he will never love you. It’s not your fault, though. You haven’t done anything to deserve Ozai’s treatment. Your father is just a cruel person who only craves power and doesn’t care who he hurts to obtain it.”

__________________________________________________________________

Iroh’s words seem to affect Zuko as he slowly lowers himself to the ground, and the winds start returning to normal. Zuko’s glowing eyes fade back to being his normal golden eyes.

“What? What just happened?” He asks his Uncle before fainting into his uncle’s awaiting arms.

__________________________________________________________________

Everyone is stunned at what they saw. “I… I can’t believe it… After all this time the Avatar was my nephew… He’s not going to be very happy about this. This means he can’t go home now… This will destroy my nephew. I guess we should be leaving now…” Iroh mumbles to himself

“I’m coming with you” Aang says “The Avatar is going to need to master air next and I just so happen to be an airbending master.” He explains.

“I want to come too.” Katara says, “after learning air, the Avatar is going to need to learn water so you’ll be traveling to the north pole, correct?” She asks and Iroh replies “Probably, it depends if I can get Zuko to accept being the Avatar. Hopefully I can manage to convince Zuko to do the right thing.”

Sokka gawks at her “Are you crazy Katara!? You want to go with the people that just invaded our home!?” He yells out to her.

“Well they will be heading north eventually and this might be my only chance to learn from a waterbending master.” Katara explains “That’s a great idea! With you around perhaps we can help Zuko through whatever issues he’s going through as well! Zuko doesn’t seem all that bad... Just lost…” Aang pipes up

“Oh no, I am not letting my little sister go on that thing.” Sokka says pointing to the ship.

“Who said anything about being on their ship? Have you forgotten that I’ve got a flying bison? We’ll be following them on Appa.” Aang says.

“Fine then I’m coming too!” Sokka declares.

Kanna walks out of the igloo and looks at the siblings suspiciously “What’s going on here?” She asks

“Gran Gran… We decided to go with Aang while he follows Zuko to the north pole.” Katara explains nervously hoping that Kanna doesn’t object too strongly with it. “Then you’ll need to pack your sleeping bags, clothing, and other personal belongings… Something tells me you’re be gone a long time.” Kanna says with a smile.

“You’re ok with this?” Sokka asks, surprised. “You two, Aang and Zuko found each other for a reason and now your destinies are intertwined together.” Kanna says.

__________________________________________________________________

After Iroh places Zuko into his room and looks over the damage the ship obtained from the big waves, he tells the helmsman to make a quick stop at the closest harbour.

He makes everyone on the ship swear to secrecy showing them why people call him the dragon of the west to give them incentive to stay quiet.

Iroh doesn’t quite know what to make of this situation, his nephew is the Avatar… Will his nephew be willing or able to defeat Ozai for the sake of the world?

Iroh knows his nephew has good in him and knows he doesn’t want people to suffer but he’s so loyal to his father even though his father burned half his face off.

Zuko’s already suffered enough in his 16 years of living and now he has to worry about saving the entire world.

Why? Why’d it have to be his nephew? Of all people to be the Avatar?

__________________________________________________________________

When he goes out on deck he meets Aang who has the biggest smile “Hi! I’m Aang! Avatar Jinju was a close friend of mine! We were always sort of outcasts since I was an airbending prodigy and Jinju had an unkempt appearance and behaved differently.”

Aang becomes sad as he talks about the next part “When they wanted to take Jinju away to train at the eastern air temple we ran away on Appa and got caught up in the storm… I don’t really know what happened afterwards but I guess he died since your nephew’s now the Avatar.”

Iroh puts a comforting hand on Aang’s shoulder when the boy begins to cry

“This is all my fault… It was my suggestion that we leave the temple… If it wasn’t for me he wouldn’t have died…” Aang says through his tears

“It’s not your fault, you didn’t know that this would happen. You were only trying to help a friend.” Iroh says

Aang smiles back at him starting to feel a little better “I still feel like I failed my friend but now is the chance to redeem myself, I won’t fail his newest reincarnation!” Aang says, determined.

__________________________________________________________________

Iroh sighs at Aang’s enthusiasm “my nephew won’t like this, he’ll reject being the Avatar or even worse turn himself over to the firelord thinking that at least he’s dying with honor.”

Aang’s face turns serious “We won’t let that happen. We’ll stop him if it comes to it.” he says, looking as determined as ever.

“We’ll figure it out… I know we can do this! It might take a while but I can sense Zuko’s a good person at heart.” Aang reassures and smiles at Iroh

Iroh smiles back

__________________________________________________________________

After talking with Zuko’s uncle, Aang returns to his bison where Sokka and Katara are waiting for him.

“So… Zuko… Zuko the Avatar… And he’s fire nation” Sokka says trying to start a conversation but not knowing exactly what to say.

“Are you sure this is going to work? Their monsters… They hurt so many people without remorse, Aang.” Katara asks looking unsure

“I’m not sure but I think it will… Zuko seems lost and severely misguided but not evil. If we can show him love and have faith in him I think we can make him a better person.” Aang says

Sokka and Katara both look unconvinced

“I know I don’t know what exactly the fire nation did to your people… Or what monstrosities they committed but I do know that not all fire nation people are evil. Avatar Roku was the previous fire Avatar and he tried to stop the war even betraying his nation and I had a friend who was fire nation too!” Aang reasons.

“I guess you do have a point…” Sokka reluctantly agrees to Aang’s points.

“I think it’s worth a shot. The world has been waiting for the Avatar to return and put a stop to this war. Sure the Avatar isn’t exactly what we expected but it’s all we got right now and the world can’t keep waiting forever.” Katara says trying to be positive.

__________________________________________________________________

Zuko sleeps through the night with Iroh watching over him while Aang, Katara and Sokka follow their ship from above the clouds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... Don't expect me to continue this anytime soon... It's just an idea that has been floating around in my head... I've got things to work on.  
> ಠ_ಠ

**Author's Note:**

> Adopt it if you want...


End file.
